The New World
by FiscalCliff
Summary: On Nov 6 2022, 09:00 GMT the three and a half million players logged in to Sword Art Online disappeared. To the extent of my knowledge, all players logged into Sword Art Online at the time of the transport were taken to Aincrad, and by extension, the new world. This is my personal account of that time. [AU where SAO players are transported to a Log Horizonish Aincrad]
1. Chapter 1-1

**[A.N. It's been a while since I last revisited this. I've decided to change many of the things I dislike about it, looking at it now. Chiefly, the format of the story has been altered slightly. This way it's less of a pain in the ass to write in.]**

2024-11-6

I.

Last night, Kayaba and I were talking. It hadn't occurred to me that two full years had passed since the ascendance until he brought it up. One thing led to another and we began discussing the history of this world and by extension, keeping of that history. Well, the non-existence of it, really. I was surprised that in the past two years no one had thought to keep a record of our ordeals, though, I suppose the threats of imminent death and anarchy are enough to keep one occupied.

Anyways, we really dug into it, and were talking practically until the sun came up. We ended up coming to the conclusion that keeping a history wouldn't just be for the sake of posterity. Not only could we use this as an opportunity to start compiling a true encyclopedia, much better than what Kayaba's managed to compile with his skill in spare time, but if we were to ever make it back to the old world, we would need an objective account of our time in Aincrad. Kayaba's out posting an advertisement for historians, writers, editors, anyone with a relevant degree or experience, really, right now. As for me, I'm working on something related.

Kayaba and I agreed that not only did there need to be a broad and objective history, but also personal accounts. Tales out of daily life as a blacksmith, the rush as you launch into a sword skill, the experience of creating an entirely new code of laws. We'll ask that Diavel encourage people to start journals at the next forum, and those who already have them to submit them. This would all come with the option of complete anonymity, of course. Perhaps we could pay some NPCs to do it? They're generally less involved with us and therefore neither know nor care about the lives of other players. This would allow us to produce copies for recordkeeping's sake.

Anyone reading this has probably already realized that this is my own journal. It's a personal memoir of my time in Aincrad, the new world. I've tried to convince Kayaba too, but it looks like I'll be writing for the both of us. He says that he's always been more scientist than writer, but then I reminded him that he said I was more of a scientist than he. I'm pretty sure he's still thinking up a rebuttal to that one. As I can't assume that everyone reading this is aware of the events leading up to now, allow me to return to exactly two years and one day from the time of writing this, when Aincrad became home for me and just a few million other people.

II.

I should preface this with some background about who I am, as I have no intention for this text to be anonymous. My name is Maxwell Cartwright, though some prefer to use my IGN, Wright. I am twenty seven at the time of writing this. Those of you from Aincrad likely know me as "The Scary Senate Advisory/Clearer lady".

It's generally seen as poor etiquette to inquire about a citizen of Aincrad's past life. Some among us even go so far as to only be known by their IGNs. I wouldn't like to delve too far into my own past, but some context will be necessary. Up until a year before the launch of SAO I was a member of my country's military, and had been loaned to the United Nations peacekeeping force. Then, in 2021 I was injured in the line of combat and honourably discharged. My injury was a permanently disabling one, and required the use of forearm crutches to maintain mobility. I was still young, so I pursued a university degree, but my past times of running, hiking and even simple things such as going out with friends became significantly more difficult.

I had been an avid gamer since junior high, and was able to pick up the hobby again due to the previous events. When the SAO closed beta was announced I jumped at the chance for obvious reasons.

III.

 _A note to future readers: The text takes a more prose-like bent from here on, as I begin the story of how I got to now. It seems like something out of a work of fiction, so I felt it appropriate to write as though it was._

It was 12 _:_ 00 am mountain time when I logged into the official release of Sword Art Online for the first and last time. The windows were shuttered, my schedule for the next day clear and I was itching to get in. It was addictive really, the sensation of freedom that came with being able to run, jump, fight, and not be tied to a pair of crutches. To say that the last three months had been hellish was an understatement. I was practically jumping with joy, not that I could literally jump, at the prospect.

At this point I was familiar with the sudden rush of visual, auditory and tactile sensation that came with starting up the Nervegear. I decided it prudent to keep my avatar from the beta test. I'd spent hours creating an idealized version of myself, no sense throwing it all away. It took me a few minutes to get used to my body after so long out of it. While I had tried to make the dimensions similar to my real life self as possible, some things were ever so slightly off. My arms and legs were slightly longer and I was perhaps a half centimetre taller. This meant constant tripping and overextending as I got used to my body. That people could add an extra foot to their height or even play as the opposite gender was baffling. I was only a few millimetres off and something still felt uncanny about this body, as though I simply inhabited it, and had hijacked it from its original owner. Thinking back, I suppose I can at least be grateful that we have our original bodies here in the new world. Body Dysphoria would have quickly become the number one mental illness among citizens of Aincrad otherwise.

I'd become fairly used to the new body after an hour or two of fighting the boars around the Town of Beginnings or the "noob boars" as they're commonly referred to now. Thankfully, everyone was still a "noob" at about an hour in, so few had ventured much farther. I was confident enough in my new body to move to the forest northwest of here. There were more mobs of a higher level and fewer people. My dagger would suffice, having bought a better one, and while I was a little underleveled it wasn't an issue.

One of the ridiculous, yet amazing things which I missed most about the original game were the running mechanics. You could maintain a fast jog for an infinite amount of time and your sprint time was entirely dependent on your skill level. My sprint skill was still in its infancy, but still allowed for a sprint of about four hundred metres at a time, which recharged as I jogged. These two factors combined with unequipping my armor turned what would have been a half day's march in real life into a leisurely hour long jog.

The mobs found in the forest were more challenging with higher levels and more aggressive AI, but they were still nothing I hadn't dealt with before. I eventually came upon a group of windwasps, three of them buzzing menacingly where they hung in the air. I drew my dagger. They would charge one at a time in quick succession with either a bite or stinger attack, before an approximately five second period of delay where they could only evade and counterattack. The three here wouldn't be a problem. I'd spent so much time here and deeper into the forest that the AI of these mobs may as well have been branded into my brain. The first one charged forward, and I parried its stinger away, my attention already shifting to the second. I readied a sword skill as I ducked its bite attack. As it passed over my head, I sprang up, my dagger cloaked in the light of a sword skill. The dagger made a satisfying crunching sound sinking into its thorax. I kicked off a tree branch, activating a thrown sword skill at the same time. Another satisfying crunch, the dagger embedding itself in the wasp's abdomen while I soared over its charge in a back flip. I drew my starter dagger as I landed. There were around two seconds left before the first made another pass. That time, I buried my dagger right between its eyes. Nevermind that its weak spot wasn't actually there.

My breathing was heavy, my heart beating like crazy, and it was the most alive I'd felt in months. I must have had a pretty crazy grin on my face. I was hyper-alert and my senses seemed to pick up every little detail around me, from the swaying of the tree branches to the sound of movement in the background, to the smell of the leaf litter. Yeah, I couldn't do a midair back-flip in real life, but that was what the system assist was for. A window popped up, telling me I had gained fifty-two experience, seventy col, a monster drop and leveled up in three of my skills. I dismissed the window and picked up my first dagger. It was then that something unexpected happened. Looking back now it was the least unexpected of what happened that day, which gives some perspective about the absurdity of the events to follow.

"You dropped this"

My first reaction was annoyance. Part of the reason I had come here was the sweet, sweet solitude. Then, when I got a look at whom it was, that reaction changed to something along the lines of "What the fuck".

"Holy shit...Holy shit"

I took the dagger from his hand and backed away slowly. The avatar was older but the features and facial structure were the exact same as the one that had been leaked on online forums. Same regal look, same sharp gaze.

"Is it really that obvious?" He looked a little disappointed in himself ", I thought changing my age might be enough, and I really liked this avatar too"

"No, no I've just got an exceptional memory so I guess you were unlucky enough to meet me can I please thank you for everything you've done I wouldn't be able to experience the sensation of running, jumping and walking normally if it weren't for you developing the Nervegear and SAO I'm so grateful for everything you've done especially allowing me to be part of the beta test thank you sorry" my words were about as coherent as my thoughts.

To this day Kayaba still won't let me live it down.

"I'm glad to know that the Nervegear changed your life like that. Say, you don't speak Japanese do you?"

"No?" I said tentatively.

He switched to Japanese "How would you say the automatic translation feature works?"

The words appeared in perfect English at the bottom of my HUD. It was amazing, and I said as much.

He switched back to English "It's a new feature, though the servers will probably have to be upgraded before we can fully implement it," he said, sounding just a touch proud of himself.

I relaxed a little as it became clear that even though he was goddamn Akihiko Kayaba, he was in fact, also a person.

"What's the creator of Sword Art Online doing out in the forest on launch day anyway?"

"I'm not allowed I play my own game?"

"When you say it like that it makes sense, but it's like seeing Tim Cook at your local Apple Store,"

He shrugged and brought up the in game clock. It read 08:57:52

"I see what you mean. We've got about seven seconds before we're all transported to the main square and one of the interns gives the welcoming speech"

True to his word, I counted to seven and a blur of blue light enveloped the world around me. The disorientation that came with being teleported had never really gone away during the beta and three months away wasn't exactly helping things. I stumbled a little but quickly found my footing. We stood in the central plaza, with about a million other people. Slowly, a red robed figure materialized out of nothing in a way that seemed completely natural, yet completely unnatural. I apologize if that description isn't satisfactory, but it's really the only way to describe the utter mindfuckery that occured. He was about twenty times taller than the average person and the moment I heard his voice I decided it was about twenty thousand times more commanding.

"Welcome, my children. While it may not have been I that gathered you here today, I have a purpose for you to fulfill that is greater than anything else you could ever do or imagine"

I heard Kayaba beside me ",Shit, that's not in the script"


	2. Chapter 1-2

**[Author's note: As you've probably already noticed, this story is going to be really, really AU.**

 **Any constructive criticism in the reviews would be appreciated, though any review in general would also be appreciated.]**

"What do you mean it's not in the script?"

Kayaba didn't have a chance to answer. The robed figure began talking again and I may as well have tried to tear a rock in half with my bare hands because it would have been easier than averting my attention.

"There is no escape. I await the strong at the top of Aincrad"

And then he, it, whatever, was gone. There was no brilliant flash of light, no sound, not the slightest indication he had left. In fact, it was more like the world had simply returned to the state that it had been before his arrival. There was, however, a flashing red exclamation mark in the corner of my HUD. The one that they used for admin announcements and maintenance notices during the beta test, the things that you read even if you read nothing else, unless you liked being surprise kicked out of full dive.

I brought the notice up with a gesture, and its source fell into my hand. It was a small mirror, not unlike one I might keep in my bag. On looking into it, I wasn't really able to comprehend what I saw. It was me, but the wrong one. Not ingame me, but real world me. Mousy blonde hair, too gaunt face, ghost of a scar across my cheek, everything I had tried to leave behind. There was a little tinkle as it fell out of my limp hand and shattered on the ground, which didn't make any sense either. The mirror should have dissolved into a shower of blue polygons upon reaching zero durability.

"Is this supposed to be happening?" I asked, picking up the largest mirror shard.

There was a scrap of vain hope that I wasn't actually me, but it was dashed as I ran a hand over the old scar on my cheek, feeling the ever so slight depression in the flesh there. Looking at Kayaba was further confirmation. He looked like the person in all the interviews now, same sharp features and skinny frame. His gaze was scrutinizing. It examined all the aspects of this world, as though he had created it – because he literally had created it, and it came back wanting.

"None of this is supposed to be happening. I know that wasn't Hide's voice. Actually it hardly sounded human. That mirror shouldn't be doing that either. Broken objects were never coded into the game," He smiled wryly at that ", not that the players ever needed or were supposed to know. It's just a cool particle effect otherwise, right?"

Kayaba's words brought me back to reality. I could obsess over my appearance and he could wax poetic about game design later. Right now, things were becoming unruly as people panicked, yelled and confusion reigned supreme. I was occasionally jostled by the moving crowd that was becoming rowdier by the second, the air was hot with all the additional body heat and felt almost suffocating to breathe. We needed to get out. Crowds could be calmed down, but you'd need a regiment of riot police and loud speakers to even have a chance with all the people here, which appeared to be all three and a half million that had been logged in during launch hour.

"We need to go. There isn't much we can do to control a crowd this size"

I started elbowing my way towards the nearest exit. Kayaba followed in tacit agreement. We moved quickly, now not exactly being the time for a leisurely stroll. Unfamiliar faces passed us by and some of them looked at Kayaba in recognition. Elbow made contact with plate armor and I winced. The crowd was particularly thick near the exit arch. It seemed that a lot of people had gotten the idea of leaving. Thankfully, whoever designed the square had possessed knowledge of exit design and traffic was at least flowing smoothly. Kayaba had put on a cloak at some point to cover his face, so that was one less thing to worry about.

On getting outside, we moved out of the way and into a side alley, stopping there. Neither of us had apparently given any thought to what we would do once we got out here. We both stood there for a moment, burning daylight, and then Kayaba brought up his menu and frowned.

"My admin privileges are gone if you were wondering," he said "and the logout button is gone too"

I sighed ", of course it is. Is there anybody else you know who might be ingame?"

Kayaba chuckled "The core dev team was actually all supposed to stay on the outside, in case something happened. I'd expected that "something" to maybe be server issues or a bug that had slipped by us. Not _this_ " He gestured around himself ",There's not much you can do in full dive that you can't do out of it, but I kind of snuck off and went for a dive anyways. Head developer wanting to see people enjoy his finished product and all that. But no, while it's very possible that there are people from the dev team here, they wouldn't be people I knew. We were over two thousand strong, so it's impossible to have known most people working on the game"

"Okay," I sat down on a conveniently placed bench, looking up ", If we're really stuck here I suppose it's probably best that as few people are here as possible, but it would have been nice to have some more people with in and out knowledge of the game"

"Well you'll have to settle for me," he said sitting down on the other end of the bench.

"I didn't mean that you weren't knowledgeable about SAO, it's your game after all. Sorry if that's what I implied. After all, it was your vision that–" I said, backpedalling furiously. I hadn't meant to inadvertently insult Akihiko Kayaba of all people.

"It's fine I know what you meant," Kayaba said, cutting me off before I dug myself deeper into a hole ", I think the question for the two of us is what do we do now?"

We both sat in silence for a moment, thinking. What could we do now? There were three million and a half million people stuck in Sword Art Online – or at least something that superficially looked and felt like it – together, with us being among their number and nobody with any idea what had just happened. Did we have to eat now, could we die? At that thought, I pulled out the mirror shard from a pouch in my belt, the afternoon sunlight glinting off of its face, and pressed it against my finger, lightly at first, and then harder. It hurt. Then it hurt more. Then it bled. I watched with a horrified fascination as my HP bar dropped by a pixel and dark red blood beaded on my finger. So did Kayaba, leaning over to get a better look.

"I think we have a problem," Kayaba said.

I looked at him.

"In addition to that," he amended hastily.

I wiped off the blood to find that the wound had already healed. Passive hit point regeneration was apparently still a thing.

"What language am I speaking right now?" Kayaba asked.

"English, obviously…" I trailed off. Kayaba had possessed the barest Asian accent when I had first talked to him. It had been subtle, but enough for a native speaker to notice. Now he spoke clean, uninflected English like it was his native language.

"I was speaking Japanese, I've been speaking Japanese since we got here. I'm hearing you in Japanese right now"

"Despite the fact that I don't speak Japanese" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Despite the fact that you don't speak Japanese" he echoed.

Great. Not only were we stuck here. Mr Red Cloak could and had done something to our brains. Everything was so fucked up I could hardly keep track of it all. We bled, we looked like ourselves again, and now we all spoke the same language. Tallying it all up, it wasn't hard to believe that wherever we were, it wasn't Sword Art Online the virtual reality MMORPG. In fact, it seemed like the only logical conclusion. I ran my hand over the scar on my cheek again. It felt incredibly real. Then I brought up my menu. That felt just as real, just as conceptually there as my scar.

We sat in silence. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. My armor was making it profoundly difficult to sit comfortably, so I dequipped it, watching as it disappeared in a shower of blue light, revealing the grey casual clothes I had on underneath. The stone wall was abrasive and cool against my skin and it's realness just made me question everything more. Could anything that felt so real actually be a simulation? Everything in Aincrad had a slight digitally generated quality to it, such that it was just barely distinguishable from reality. I wondered if that was on purpose. Kayaba had also taken his armor off, and was staring blankly into the wall ahead of us like it held the meaning to life. Who knows, maybe it did.

I was still until an idea crossed my mind and curiosity overruled my restraint. I kicked up a pebble into my hand with the tip of my boot. Balanced between forefinger and thumb, I reared back, waiting to see if a familiar hum of power appeared in my bones. It did, guiding me through a motion that shouldn't have felt so familiar. The pebble glowed with a crimson light as I loosed it against the wall. It chipped, a little piece of stone flying off the brick as it bounced away.

"That's supposed to be an immortal object," Kayaba said.

"Yep," I agreed. We were past the point of being surprised at immortal objects being very mortal, or sword skills apparently still existing.

Thankfully, something happened before we could lapse back into our respective mental breakdowns. Two young men stepped into the alley, the black haired one explaining his plan.

"Resources are going to quickly become limited as people want to level up and hunt the boar fields around the City of Beginnings clean, we should move to another town and get a head start while we still can. I've got the first floor memorized from the beta, so we should be able to avoid all the dangerous areas"

"Thanks for the offer man, I'm grateful, really. But I've got some friends back there who I was supposed to meet up with later," The red one said, halting in his steps.

The black haired one was about to answer when they noticed us spectating from our bench. The ensuing awkward silence hung ugly in the air for a few moments.

"The spawn rates are dynamic and adjust according to the number of players in the area. Though they wouldn't be able to keep up with three and a half million people all in the same area, so I guess you're right that it would be advantageous to get an early start," Kayaba said, the statement sounding like he was reading it out of an encyclopedia. I wondered if would ever pass up an opportunity to talk about his game.

"You're Akihiko Kayaba," the black haired one said, eyes widening.

"I'm Akihiko Kayaba," Kayaba said, voice completely level. He probably got a kick out of doing this to people.

The two of them were close enough now for their in game names to pop up beside their cursors. Kirito and Klein. They both opened their mouths for a moment, closed them, and opened them again. I really hoped I hadn't looked like this the first time I met Kayaba. According to him, I was even worse, but I'm liable to take everything Kayaba says with a grain of salt after two years dealing with him.

"Okay. Awesome. Perfect. Do you have any idea what's happening right now?" Klein said.

"Not in the slightest. Though the world we're in right now appears to be significantly different from the Aincrad we designed," Kayaba answered.

I took the mirror shard out of my pouch again, showing it to them ", Things break, and we bleed now, despite the fact that our HP bars are still very much there. There's more too, but I think the whole feeling pain and suffering thing seems to be the most important"

They nodded, apparently going through the same mental gymnastics we'd just had to do.

"We can help you find your friends if you'd like," I said, jumping at the opportunity for something to do and roping Kayaba in too. There were too many mines to step on right now to think about where I was walking, and Kayaba was the same. We both needed a distraction from our own thoughts.

"I'll help too then," the Kirito blurted out, not one to be left out of the good-deeding.

"Awesome guys! Thanks you two, Kirito" Klein said, addressing first us and then Kirito, immediately brightening up "I said I would meet my friends in the Open Hearth Inn, but I don't actually have any idea where that is now that our map is gone. I don't know if they'll be able to find it without their maps, but hey, it's at least worth a try"

I brought up my map to confirm his statement and found that the only places shown on it were where I had been since being transported to the plaza. Of course that wasn't a problem for the person who had designed the game, or two people who'd had a month to beta test it, but Klein was neither of those.

"Yeah no problem, we'll show you the way," I said, and the others gave their affirmation. Walking to an inn wasn't a very trying task, but it was better than nothing.

I'd have to remember to stay in The Open Hearth Inn if there was ever the chance. The place was swank for a medieval inn. Even in the absence of players it was alive with NPCs singing, drinking and laughing. A bard playing his lute in the corner, the sound of clinking dishes and mugs everywhere and barmaids waiting on people at the tables. Klein scanned around before noticing three people sitting in a booth, locked in intense conversation. He shouted at them and they waved furiously for him to come over.

"They're not all here but that's three of them and three is more than zero!" Klein yelled in jubilation, pumping his arm into the air. Some of the patrons looked over at his outburst, but quickly lost interest. Klein turned to Kirito "Sorry for dragging you all the way over here, I'd feel bad asking you for anything else Kirito, so get going to that village of yours"

Kirito who had seemed uncomfortable since entering the tavern looked at Klein in surprise "You're sure?"

"I'm sure," Klein said, and grinned ", I used to run a guild in the other game I played, so don't worry too much about me"

Kirito grabbed the hand that Klein had stuck out for a handshake and then gave us a small smile, turning towards the tavern door. He seemed torn between leaving and staying for a brief moment as he stood in the doorway, but then gathered himself, leaving in a full out run. As for me and Kayaba, we looked at each other and both knew that we wouldn't be staying here. There was more to know, more to find out about the world we now found ourselves in.

"I can see by your looks right now that you don't want to stay. I don't want you to feel obligated to either. Like I said, I'll manage, just like I've managed before," Klein said, his voice firm.

I nodded in acknowledgement and he gave us both a firm handshake. We left too, not at a full run like Kirito, but we had a purpose in our step now. There were lots of people out there like Klein and his friends. Three and a half million in fact.


End file.
